In Like Water for Chocolate and Therese Raquin, mothers reinforce boundaries that repress their daughters' emotions. Struggling for their goals, Tita and Therese face barricades that alter their personalities and transform their desires. The protagonists' aspirations develop through repression, accentuating their struggle to realize their passions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The protagonist's desires are stifled by their mothers. In Like Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena ignores Tita's desire to get married and have a family of her own. Mother Elena forces Tita, the youngest daughter, to adhere to family tradition, requiring Tita "not to marry or have children because (she must) take care of (her) mother until her death" (Esquivel, 1993, p. 72). This shatters Tita's prospects for the future. Her mother blocks Tita's happiness in life, hurting her. To maintain family tradition, mother Elena refuses Pedro's request to marry Tita, but comes up with another idea, “let me suggest my daughter Rosaura” (16). Tita's heart is broken as she is forced to attend the wedding ceremony and watch her sister marry her love. Mama Elena doesn't let Tita “have an opinion” (14) in anything. Tita is in an ancillary position and serves her family while her voice is stolen and everything she wants is suppressed. The way Tita is treated by her mother Elena leaves deep emotional scars: “she has killed her little by little since she was a child” (47). This treatment strengthens Tita's desire for Pedro, who only married Rosaura to be close to Tita. She hopes that Pedro will "take her away with him...where there were no rules" (54). The constant brutal treatment to which Tita is subjected leaves her devastated and without the few desires of her benevolent heart. Therese Raquin's eponymous protagonist has a passionate character that she is forced to hide in her life with her aunt, Madame Raquin, and Camille. In the absence of her parents, Madame Raquin is the maternal figure in Therese's life. Teresa grew up next to Camilla, «sharing her cousin's medicines, preserved in the greenhouse atmosphere of the little sick room» (Zola, 1962, p. 38). The confines of Teresa's childhood environment stifled her ardor for life. Madame Raquin raised her to be Camille's companion, attempting to transform Teresa into a “vigilant nurse” (40). Because Teresa's emotions are continually repressed, they amplify: "for fifteen years she lied, repressing her ardent desires" (72). Therese is forced to be grateful to Madame Raquin for raising her; however, he reaches a climax where he cannot bear to bury his passionate nature to satisfy the Raquins' needs. Camille is dull, listless and does not know “the ardent desires of adolescence” (41). Zola presents Therese as the only passionate soul of the Raquin family. In her sad atmosphere she is deprived of an outlet to liberate her personality. Similar to Tita, Therese's boring habitat prevents her from liberating her inner self. Therese cannot get used to the darkness and gloom of her district, and longs to "escape...into the sunlight" (66). He longs to free himself from the life and environment that Madame Raquin controls and unleash his passion for life. In Life Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena controls Tita so forcefully that only through her struggle to free herself and through time away from her mother can Tita find freedom and gain control over her life. The last act that pushes Tita to rebel is the refusal ofmother Elena to allow Tita to mourn the death of her nephew: “we cannot give in to the pain, there is work to be done” (Esquivel, p. 89). Roberto was more his son "without official title" (76 years old) who he lost when mother Elena sent her family to Texas. Tital's cultured submissive explodes with indignation as her mother attempts to muffle her emotions. A combination of shock at the atrocity of her nephew's death and hatred towards mother Elena causes Tita to explode, stating, "I'm tired of obeying your orders" (89). As a result of the emotional and physical abuse, Tita takes her first steps towards freedom by retreating to the chicken coop. After being confined to an asylum, Tita's physical and emotional needs are met in the doctor's home where she recovers from the abuse. Through her recovery, Tita learns to be braver. For the first time he refuses to do anything with the explanation, “because I don't want to” (106). Tita discovers who her true character is as she is free to be something other than what her mother dictated to her. After discovering her inner characteristics thanks to the support of the doctor John Brown, Tita returns to her mother Elena's house to face her fears and assist her mother in her paraplegic condition. Although Tita experiences verbal abuse when she returns home, she manages to remain strong thanks to the fact that it was her personal choice to return to the ranch out of a sense of duty. Upon her mother's death, Tita believes she will finally be free from her mother's dominating presence, but she is haunted by her ghost. To obtain eternal freedom from her mother Tita faces the ghost and rebels, claiming to be "a person who has the perfect right to live her life as she wants... leave me alone" (180) and forever freeing Tita from control of his mother. Tita is then able to release all her repressed emotions. Finally Tita and Pedro “can make love freely” (p. 248). The change Tita undergoes due to her repressed emotions strengthens her character for the better. In Therese Raquin, Zola highlights the way the protagonist's character changes as her desires dominate her life and give her the ability to rebel against her repressors. The author awakens Therese's dormant lust to a climactic level by Laurent, who unlocks her true nature through his animal power and sexual potency. Teresa extinguishes her passion and passes "from Camillo's weak arms to Lorenzo's vigorous embrace" (Zola, p. 64). She was "getting revenge" (66) on the Raquins by having an affair with Camille's friend. Teresa takes few precautions to hide the adultery, “let her come up if she wants. You can hide. Damn her! I love you." (68) This act of rebellion reaches its peak with Camille's murder, but Therese believes she is rewarded through Laurent. With Laurent, Therese has the ability to be a completely different person and is not ashamed to release this character with him. Laurent impacts Therese's character as he transforms her into a new person. Before meeting her lover she maintained “perfect control” (42) and hid her inner feelings even though she hated her life he frees her from the spell and allows her to come to life. Towards the end of the text, Teresa no longer represses her emotions and reveals “shocking outbursts of anger” (215). rather through ultimate moral and physical destruction. Therese's personality would not have initially killed such a naive man, but the constraints imposed by her mother cause Therese to rebel and remove the obstacle in her path for the sake of freedom. The ability to do what she personally chooses frees Therese from the constraints of her little atmosphere and.